When Mark Cavendish Made History At The Tour de France 🔥 ｜ Rob Hatch's Cycling Moment Of 2024

It has to be number 35, doesn't it? Did we expect it? No. Did we want it to happen? I think any neutral wanted it to happen. Record-breaking moment. The sport moving on. History being made. And Mark Cavendish did it, didn't he, in France. A 35th and a unique achievement. Stage win at the Tour. It was a funny day. In the last hour, half an hour, you started to see a little bit of movement. I started to get a strange feeling. In the last kilometre, it was chaos. It was crazy. Commentary-wise, you're in it. You're talking through the moments. And then when it opened up at the end, that was it. What we'd been worrying about getting right, not getting wrong, calling the moment. That was from our point of view. Sat in the home studio. I had my mates on FaceTime, the other commentators. Their faces were a picture. Sean and Robbie. And it will be a moment that I certainly won't forget. And I'm pretty sure all of you fans watching at home will definitely not forget either. So Mark Cavendish's 35th Tour de France stage win is my stage and moment of the season. It was the day after the revolution at the Tour de France. Stage five began after the big alpine shake-up of the general classification. A chance for the sprinters, maybe an opportunity to rip up the record books with Mark Cavendish. But his second opportunity at this Tour of trying to take number 35 and have the record he shared with Eddie Merckx all for himself. There was a packed field of sprinters to try and prevent him doing it and to win for themselves at the Tour. Stage five, Saint-Jean-le-Maurienne all the way to Saint-Vulbain, a first ever finish in the town in the Ains. It had previously hosted stage finishes at the Tour de l'Ain and at the Dauphiné. All of them had been sprints. The parkour for this one suggested that this would be no different. 177.4 kilometers and a chance after the mountains for the fast men. Bogacar was back in the yellow jersey, a 50th Grand Tour stage win for Slovenia the day before since the first had been taken by Borut Bozic 15 years before. It was a slow start. Headwind expected for most of the day. Would anybody want to go away in the breakaway? Just like on the way to Turin, the immediate answer was no. Cavadish, he was ready at his fiddly very best. Nervous, checking the equipment. As at the front, there were no nerves. Ayuso and Lascano had been joking away and eventually, after settling down for a while, the race started to take shape. Clément Rousseau went up the road with 150 kilometers to go. Running in his home region of France, he'd be joined by another homeboy, Matteo Vercet. Almost five minutes of a gap, but with the parkour well controllable and almost every single team wanting a sprint, there was never really any danger that it would be anything but. Into the final 60 kilometers and nervous moments, even for the yellow jersey. Several riders down, Bogacar just about getting away with it, others not so lucky. Thankfully, everybody back on their bikes. A reminder that anything can happen any time at the Tour de France. Intermediate sprint time came with 53 and a half kilometers to go. 20 and 17 points were taken by the breakaway, who by this point had just less than a minute and a half. Pearson would draw right level with Germain at this point in the green jersey standings. It seemed as though Abrahamsen was about to lose the jersey. Question was, to who? The rain began to fall and the nerves continued to grow. 45 K's to go became 42. Confirmation of that draw at the top of the standings and confirmation we were going to have a sprint when the break was brought back with 36 K's to go. A job well done for the two enjoying their day out on home roads. But there was no enjoyment for Alexander Kristoff. He crashed on a descent. And then there'd be another moment. This time the victim was Kristoff Laporte. Both riders were back on the bike and okay. They'd soon both be back in the peloton. 15 K's to go and teams who had kept positions at the front going into the final 20 K were keeping them. Astana Kazakhstan amongst them. With five K's to go, the dial really was turned up to the max. As with every sprint day at this tour, ready to be witnesses to history. Would it happen today? Would it happen at all? It would be Lotto Destiny who'd take it up inside the final two K's. Trying to put in Arnaud Dolly as he was hoping to win for the first time at the tour. After being out of position and boxed out, there was Jasper Philipsen. Cavendish was dropped off on his wheel. A bit of argy-bargy with 500 meters to go. A turn to the right-hand side and the riders would then see the finish line. Ackermann was there. Van den Berghe wasn't far away and there were plenty of riders. But it was the sprint, the pounce, the movement and acceleration from Mark Cavendish that hit the front, stayed at the front and history was made. First there had been Eddie Merckx. Now there was Mark Cavendish standing on the shoulders of giants. The Tour de France and the greatest of all time with now one record breaker standing alone. Disbelief, stunned celebration at the finish line and homage to a man in the peloton, they came to congratulate the champion. Most had doubted. He, however, believed and produced a day that nobody will ever forget. History made the Tour de France. Mark Cavendish and the celebrations began. A 15th Tour de France, a 35th stage victory more than anybody who ever came before. It was typically messy. The elbows were out, surfing the wheels left and right. Cavendish though, doing what he does best, turning up for the big appointments and when it mattered, he was faster than the rest. It was Cavendish who won the stage. Philipsen in second, Christoph third. Mark Cavendish, 35 stage wins and the record breaker. There was the moment. That was special. One for the history books. Those who made it possible were thanked. A team who believed. Project 35 complete. And look at what it meant to them. They of course mean the world to him. Cavendish and family with the relief and celebration that it's job done. Classified check at the end of stage five with Cavendish beating Philipsen, Christoph, Dolly and Jacobsen. Ackermann, Demar, Thierssen in the top 10 as well. And Mark Cavendish on the podium again at the Tour de France. Written off so many times, but always bouncing back. Every time there's an answer for the critics. The champion of champions.